For This Scientist, the ‘Real Work’ Is in Listening

When presented with a choice, she always chose the adventure.

Early in her career, Stephanie Wear set her sights on working internationally, supporting ocean conservation work in places she had seen only in magazines and movies. Today, Wear leads the Betty and Gordon Moore Center for Science at Conservation International, one of the world’s foremost centers for conservation research.

But as an intern just out of graduate school, she found herself on a Caribbean island, facing down a group of angry fishermen who called her “the devil.”

Speaking to Conservation News, Wear talked about the highs and lows of her career working to protect nature — and the unexpected alliance she forged that forever changed how she views her role in conservation.